Both Diet Change and More Efficient Farming Practices Required for Sustainability

Changing consumers'diets and using more efficient farming methods globally are both essential to stave off irreversible damage to the environment, a new study says.

Highlights:

The research, from the University of Minnesota, found that future increases in agricultural sustainability are likely to be driven by dietary shifts and increases in efficiency, rather than changes between food production systems.
Researchers examined more than 740 production systems for more than 90 different types of food, to understand the links between diets, agricultural production practices and environmental degradation. Their results were published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
A shift away from ruminant meats like beef -- which have impacts three to 10 times greater than other animal-based foods -- towards nutritionally similar foods like pork, poultry or fish would have significant benefits, both for the environment and for human health.
Larger dietary shifts, such as global adoption of low-meat or vegetarian diets, would offer even larger benefits to environmental sustainability and human health.